Aboriginal pipe ceremony commentary causes controversy

AUniversity of Saskatchewan professor's letter to the editor this week is creating some controversy.

The letter, published in the university's On Campus News, was written by Kevin Flynn. It criticizesFirst Nations pipe ceremonies held on campus.

An assistant professor in the department of English at the University of Saskatchewan, Flynn took issue with instructions that were emailed to him by the university in preparation for a pipe ceremony that was held there earlier this month.

Flynn said he found the protocol for the spiritual ceremony exclusionary.

"Three or maybe four of these seven items were directed towards woman in their 'moon time' - which as I understand it means menstruating - and the various ways in which their participation in this ceremony would be limited," Flynn said. "I discussed this with a colleague of mine and we were both sort of outraged by it simply because it excluded people."

Omeasoo Butt, a graduate student at the U of S, said Flynn is speaking about something he does not understand.

"Aboriginal spirituality is not written down, it is open to interpretation," Butt said. "So we all interpret it in our own way. His interpretation came from a place that people respect. He is at the university. He is an English professor. He has a PhD in literature. So people think he is a super, super smart guy. But he doesn't and he made an uninformed opinion."

Butt said that in First Nations cultures menstruating women are considered very powerful and this is why they do not participate in certain ceremonies.

Flynn maintains that he just wanted to create dialogue with his editorial comment.

"My call instead was for the university to think about how those practices, those events of whatever sort, might be adapted to better reflect the values of the entire campus community and better include everybody," he said.